Friday, July 11, 2008

TOP STORY > >Arnold Drive among best in U.S. math

By RICK KRONLeader staff writer

Arnold Drive Elementary School fourth- and fifth-graders are among the top math students in the nation based on recently released SAT-10 scores. The school’s third-graders did well, too, along with Westside Elementary students in Searcy.

The SAT-10 assessment was given to every third- through eighth-grader in the state in April and compares Arkansas students to students across the nation. The test, for the first time, was combined into the state’s Benchmark exams. The Benchmark compares how well a student does in relationship to what the state is teaching at that grade level.

On the SAT-10, students were scored in mathematics, reading comprehension, comprehensive language and science (grades 5 and 7 only). Overall, students did best in math and worst in language.

If a student had a national percentile ranking of 75, that meant that he or she scored better than 75 percent of the students in that grade level across the country, while 25 percent scored better than that student.

At Arnold Drive, the fourth-graders averaged a national percentile ranking of 85 in math, meaning only 15 percent of fourth-graders across the country scored better. The fourth-graders also had an NPR of 79 in reading comprehension. The school’s fifth-graders scored an NPR of 80 putting them in the top 20 percent across the county. The third-graders had an NPR of 74 in math.

Westside fourth-graders in Searcy were in the top 20 percent of the nation in both math and reading comprehension, scoring an NPR of 82 in both areas. Westside third-graders had a 72 NPR in math.

At the other end of the spectrum, Harris Elementary fourth-graders had an NPR of 9 in language, meaning a large majority of fourth-graders across the country scored better.

Jacksonville Elementary fourth-graders only had a 14 NPR in language.

JACKSONVILLE

At Bayou Meto Elementary, the third-graders averaged an NPR of 64 in math, 51 in reading and 41 in language. Fourth-graders had a 72 in math, 69 in reading and 42 in math, while the fifth-graders averaged 71 in math, 58 in reading, 42 in language and 57 in science.

At Warren Dupree, the third-graders had an NPR of 56 in math, 47 in reading and 44 in language, while fourth-graders had 60 in math, 55 in reading and 23 in language. Fifth-graders averaged 51 in math, 50 in reading, 39 in language and 36 in science.

Jacksonville Elementary third-graders had an NPR of 31 in math, 26 in reading and 16 in language. Fourth-graders scored 44 in math, 42 in reading, 14 in language, while fifth-graders had 29 in math, 35 in reading, 27 in language and 26 in science.

Tolleson third-graders averaged a 57 NPR in math, 47 in reading and 33 in language. Fourth graders had a 69 in math, 71 in reading and 45 in language, while fifth-graders averaged 60 in math, 61 in reading, 51 in language and 47 in science.

Murrell Taylor third-graders had a 42 NPR in math, 39 in reading and 22 in language, while fourth-graders had 41 in math, 37 in reading and 14 in language, while fifth-graders had 36 in math, 38 in reading, 29 in math and 29 in science.

Cato Elementary third-graders had an NPR of 63 in math, 50 in reading and 37 in language, while fourth-graders had 54 in math, 54 in reading and 27 in language. Fifth-graders averaged 64 in math, 62 in reading, 45 in language and 57 in science.

Pinewood third-graders had an NPR of 44 in math, 45 in reading and 31 in language, while the fourth-graders jumped to 61 in math, 65 in reading, but fell to 23 in language. Fifth-graders had 57 in math, 46 in reading, 39 in language and 48 in science.

Arnold Drive third-graders had an NPR of 74 in math, 62 in reading and 42 in language. Fourth graders had 85 in math, 79 in reading and 49 in language, while fifth graders had 80 in math, 61 in reading, 47 in language and 68 in science.

Harris had the worst scores in the area with its third-graders averaging a 17 NPR in math, 34 in reading and 15 in language.

Fourth-graders had a 34 in math, 31 in reading and 9 in language, while fifth-graders had 25 in math, 15 in reading, 17 in language and 20 in science.

Jacksonville Middle School, girls’ campus, sixth-graders had an NPR of 39 in math, 38 in reading and 34 in language. Seventh –graders had 35 in math, 39 in reading, 35 in language and 37 in science, while eighth-graders had 36 in math, 45 in reading and 30 in language.

The sixth-graders on the boys’ campus of Jacksonville Middle School had a 40 NPR in math, 26 in reading and 20 in language, while the seventh-graders had 39 in math, 34 in reading, 26 in language and 41 in science. Eighth-graders had 44 in math, 33 in reading and 24 in language.

SHERWOOD

Sherwood Elementary third-graders had an NPR of 53 in math, 46 in reading and 34 in language, while fourth-graders had 59 in math, 59 in language and 37 in language. Fifth-graders had 61 in math, 54 in reading, 48 in language and 57 in science.

Sylvan Hills Elementary third-graders had a 61 NPR in math, 49 in reading and 33 in language, while fourth-graders had 64 in math, 62 in reading and 30 in language. Fifth-graders had 50 in math, 50 in reading, 29 in language and 43 in science.

Oakbrooke third-graders had an NPR of 44 in math, 44 in reading and 29 in language. Fourth –graders jumped to 69 in math, 70 in reading and 35 in language, while the fifth-graders had 60 in math, 60 in reading, 47 in language and 52 in science.

Sylvan Hills Middle School sixth-graders had an NPR of 46 in math, 40 in reading and 34 in language, while the seventh-graders had 40 in math, 46 in reading, 38 in language and 46 in science. Eighth-graders scored 53 in math, 50 in reading and 36 in language.

Northwood sixth-graders had an NPR of 64 in math, 43 in reading and 39 in language, while seventh-graders had 50 in math, 47 in reading, 36 in language and 51 in science. Eighth-graders had 52 in math, 44 in reading and 35 in language.

BEEBE

Beebe third-graders had a 61 NPR in math, 52 in reading and 34 in language.

The fourth-graders had the best math and reading scores in the district with a 75 in math, 69 in reading and 42 in language.

Fifth-graders had 62 in math, 65 in reading, 44 in language and 63 in science, while sixth-graders had 68 in math, 51 in reading and 48 in language.

Seventh-graders had a 63 in math, 62 in reading, 51 in language and 63 in science, while the eighth-graders had 69 in math, 65 in reading and 50 in language.

SEARCY

Westside Elementary students had the best scores in the districts, closely followed seventh- and eighth-graders.

Westside third-graders had an NPR of 72 in math, 63 in reading and 53 in language, while fourth-graders had 82 in math, 82 in reading and 57 in language.

Sidney Deener third-graders had a 62 NPR in math, 57 in reading and 47 in language, while fourth-graders averaged 69 in math, 70 in reading and 44 in language.

McRae third-graders had an NPR of 66 in math, 60 in reading and 41 in language, while the fourth graders had 68 in math, 70 in reading and 38 in language.

Southwest Middle School fifth-graders had a 70 NPR in math, 75 in reading, 55 in language, and one of the best science scores in the state with a 76. The sixth-graders had a 73 in math, 57 in reading and 61 in language.

Ahlf Junior High seventh-graders had a 71 NPR in math, 68 in reading, 61 language and 66 in science, while eighth-graders had 77 in math, 65 in reading and 55 in language.

STATE AVERAGES

Statewide, third graders had a 56 NPR in math, 48 in reading and 34 in language, while fourth graders had 65 in math, 64 in reading and 33 in language.

Fifth graders averaged a 61 NPR in math, 56 in reading, 41 in language and 52 in science, while sixth graders had 64 in math, 46 in reading and 44 in language.

Seventh-graders, across the state, averaged 56 in math, 53 in reading, 45 in language and 54 in science, while eighth graders scored a 64 in math, 53 in reading and 41 in language.

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part article about local test scores. Information about Cabot, Lonoke, Carlisle and England schools appeared in the Wednesday Leader.